6th DUI Charge for Massachusetts Man

Officers from the Pittsfield Police Department in Massachusetts arrived at the home of a 56-year old man and took him into custody on suspicion of drunk driving. According to news reports, this was the man’s sixth detainment for OUI.

The police report explained that video from a surveillance camera showed a Ford Explorer colliding against a street sign and a small tree as it jumped the curb and ended up on the sidewalk. Although the SUV sustained a flat tire as it returned to the road, the driver did not get out to survey the damage. Officers reviewing the video recording later went to the scene and found the license plate of the vehicle, which they used to cross-reference the suspect’s address.

Upon arriving at the home of the driver, police officers noticed the damaged Ford Explorer. The driver confessed to the accident, even though records show that his license had been suspended in 2011 for OUI penalties. After conducting field sobriety and breathalyzer tests, police officers took the man to jail, where he later received five OUI charges. One of the charges could lead to a felony OUI conviction.

This was hardly the man’s 1st DUI/OUI offense; he was apparently previously convicted for DUI in Arizona and Oregon. In Massachusetts, he was convicted of his 4th OUI offense three years prior. A request by Massachusetts prosecutors to hold the man without bail on the grounds that he may represent a danger to the community was granted by the court.

The numerous DUI/OUI convictions are going to weigh heavily for this man, but his attorney remarked that his client has never injured anyone. In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a fifth OUI conviction calls for a mandatory jail sentence of two years; for this reason, the driver will need a comprehensive defense strategy to include both negotiation and litigation.